I Used to Be a Full-Time Writer
At least an unpaid one. It was a lot of fun while it lasted and one of the things that made it so fun was that I liked to promote it. I loved promoting the book and I rediscovered a love of design.
“Here go my feelings; take 'em and walk.”
– Kevin Gates
Let’s open up with some notes about the status of my fantasy book Eathel the Bastard. If you’re reading this for the first time you can start reading the story of Eathel the Bastard here:
Eathel the Bastard: Chapter 1
I WILL TELL YOU THIS, here at the outset: to lash at other men with sword and strike at him with spear, to set upon his works, his properties with fire and then to spill the blood of his family upon his own fields, this is the great sin of all of our race in this fallen world.
I wrote the book when I was on the stable income from my unemployment insurance and a recurring check from my employer. I also had a tremendous amount of savings so I was feeling comfortable. I kind of went into a fugue state and wrote the first 30,000 words (or so) of my fantasy book.
But as the stability gradually gave way and I ran out of money, I became more energetic about promoting it and I took joy in the task for most of the time up until recently.
I realized I needed something stable while working on it; when that stability wasn’t there, over time, I went to seed.
Now I have something better, at least for now—I’ve recently started at a State Farm insurance agency, being paid to study for an exam that will license me to transact insurance in the State of North Carolina.
It allows me more time to write. So I’m going to regularly publish updates about the book; at the same time I'm going to branch out into more literary fiction and thought essays like this one. Diaries. Insights. Profundity. Bad writing. Who knows?
The goal remains creating a book that is available for people to buy in one unit. It’ll continue to be serialized here on Substack.
Which brings me to marketing and promoting the book thus far.
I've loved marketing it. I’ve loved creating images and designing for it.
The entelechy of TikTok
Is the title of a longer, forthcoming article.
But, suffice it to say, for now, that I had to say goodbye to my old job to say hello to this new one at the insurance agency. And I really am going to miss this job. I feel like it’ll be a while before I will have it again.
And that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop writing, but this will be the end of the time where I can wake up right think have fun with the book design being an artist and go to sleep at night with never touching a spreadsheet.
Again, I just think it’s gonna be a while before I have that again.
Have what?
The people I miss on TikTok:
Brief interviews with hideous man
More recollections…… did you know I was sentimental 😆
It’s inspiring how you adapt to life’s changes without giving up on writing. Thank you for sharing.
I also have a personal question I wanted to ask, I left it inbox, when you have time please check it out.